SHIELD application: Paul Lancaster
by L-Dog Z
Summary: Whatever happened to Scott's friend Paul? Last time we saw him, he was poring milk. What happened to him afterwords? What happened when he graduated? Small oneshot that wouldn't fit in my story so its up here, by itself.


Hey, this was a plot bunny that didn't really fit into my actual story, but was something I couldn't get out of my head until I wrote it. Some of the ideas were based on the story 'Super Man' by an author whose name I forgot, but also wrote a story about the New Recruits called 'Turn, Shift, Smile, Repeat' or something like that (Which I recommend to anyone who plans to write anything to do with the New Recruits reads first, its an excellent interpretation of the group and should be used as an inspiration for their personalities). In fact, I only decided to write this after reading it once. I contemplated using this as a basis for the third 'Origins' chapter in my X-Men series, but decided to make that a loose adaptation of X-Men First Class, only more closer to the comic (Namely, being Scott and Jean's origin instead of Xavier's and Magneto's, since the second origin chapter was that).

**Shield Application: Paul Lancaster**

"_This message is confidential, after viewing it, it must be deleted immediately._" Nicholas Fury's voice says into a microphone, it records what he says.

"So, Firstly, tell me your name, age, previous occupation, and reason for your application to SHIELD."

"P-P, Paul Lancaster, sir, I'm 19, and I formerly attended Bayville University for a few months before I dropped out." Replies the blond haired young adult.

"Studying?"

"English language and Literature, and American History."

"Huh, and you want to be a SHIELD agent why?"

"Well, I could tell you the whole cliché answer people give when they want to be a doctor or a cop, that I'm doing this because I want to help people, but to be honest, that's not it. I want to be a SHIELD agent because, well, I want to be a hero."

"You realize that's basically the same reason."

"No, I, hehe, No, I mean, I want to be a real hero, like, Like Captain America, like Iron Man, Like, Like Scott Summers."

"Summers? Interesting example to bring up."

"Well, I went to High school with Scott Summers. In fact, he was my friend, my only friend. I had absolutely no idea about who, or what, he really was until everyone else found out. And I admit, I was a little freaked out by it. I didn't do what Taryn did and just dump him like old lunch, or what Duncan did and beat him up, I just sorta, well, kinda drifted away. When it all came out, I was kinda, not so much afraid, but, stunned, Y'know?"

"No, no I don't. Kid, I've seen a lot of things in my life, it takes a lot to get any reaction from me."

"Well, I just didn't know how to react. But when I finally got over that, I couldn't really talk to any of them anymore. I tried to get back into contact, but they changed their phone numbers because of all the hate texts they kept getting, and when I tried to ask for Scott's number, the goth chick told me to go to hell and threw a soda can at my face, apparently she thought I only wanted it to send more hate messages."

"Wait, I knew I remembered your name, you wrote that book, right?"

"Yeah. Well, after I dropped out of college I got a job in a diner to pay for stuff. Nothing big, just waiting tables. But one day, in the middle of November.

"I was just finishing my shift, only a few people were here so there wasn't much work to be done. So when I was fetching two orders, the door opened, the little bell thing that rings when someone enters alerted a few people towards it and, then nothing, all the sound in the room just ended. A Mutant. A mutant just entered, and everyone just stopped talking to size them up. I didn't see who it was at first, since I was in another room, but I could tell what it was that made everyone so quiet. Then, one voice broke the silence:

'What'll it be mate?' My supervisor asked. It amazed me at first he would actually do that. But our store motto is 'we serve everyone', so I guess he took that to heart.

'Just some coffee and them I'm out'. I recognised the voice, I pretty much stopped what I was doing and looked through the kitchen window. There he was, Scott Summers, dressed like he'd been hiking, asking for coffee. Then I saw the whispers, the glares, the way everyone in the diner was reacting. About four people left, two of them actually newbie's who only just started their first shifts, they both got fired. Then my Supervisor did something that nobody saw coming.

'Hey, listen up. This guy's one 'o the X-Men.' My boss told them all, 'They saved all your butts from that End of the world crap, and've done nothing but save your asses since they came out. Now give 'em some respect, before I start kicking you out.' I nearly cried with pride that he was my boss. Seriously, have you ever had a boss who does something so humane, so righteous, you nearly contemplate dedicating a religion to them? It was weird, I know. But, no one, literally no one I've met or spoke to since Scott and his 'family' fought of that giant at the damn had anything nice to say about any mutant, and here was the boss who the other day docked my pay for making a 'spit in your food' joke about some obnoxious customer, going out of his way to stand up for one of the mutants. Of course, two more people left because of that.

"When my shift ended, gave a few bucks to my supervisor and asked for two strawberry Sundays. When they got here, I picked them up, went to Scott's table and just put one next to his coffee.

"For the first time in a long time he looked at me, with an expression hidden behind his shades. He said nothing, did nothing, in fact I swear he didn't even breath.

'You know, I always wondered why I wasn't ever allowed to come over.' I told him simply, he laughed a bit at that.

'I was wondering when you'd actually come over and talk to me instead of hiding behind the kitchen wall.' He replied, it was, kinda weird.

'Yeah, I, kinda had to wait until my shift ended.' I said simply, kinda nervous. 'So, How've you been? Heard you went to that university in Westchester.'

'Dropped out.' He told me simply, 'Didn't feel like they wanted me, so I left. Besides, I've got more important things to do.'

'Like saving the world?' He stopped after that, like this wasn't what he wanted to talk about.

'You know we walked past each other every day at school, you never said a word to me, or my friends, or...'

'I tried, Ok? Peer Pressure, man, hard to talk to mutants without somebody raiding your locker. Remember that, oh what's her name, sophomore girl who dated one of your buddies, Amanda or something, how they got hazed for weeks because they didn't break up with Kurt the instant she found out he was a mutant? And that hate site those girls set up for her?'

'Dates, not dated, still together. And yeah, I remember, I also remember her sitting in his room crying to his pillow when she found out. Teenagers suck...'

'And then they grow up, and make the world suck' I added, it was like this saying I made up when Duncan started to harass that, oh what's his name, Danniels or something, short kid, goofy haircut, skates a lot, dresses like a rapper."

"Does this have a point?"

"Yeah, kinda. So as we talked, I explained why I never spoke to him, how I tried to get into contact but-Evan! That's what his name was!- But anyway, I told him how Rogue thought I was just some jerk trying to get their number for stupid reasons, and how I dropped out of college because I couldn't focus.

'Huh, That sounds like something Rogue would do.' Was his first reply afterwards, I laughed at that for a second, the fact that after telling him all that, all he had to say was that's what they would do? It cracked me up how deadpan he was about it. I know, doesn't sound too funny with me explaining it, but trust me, its one of those 'you had to be there' moments. SO anyway, as he started his Sunday, I had a question I needed to ask him.

'What's it like? You know, to have powers? And to save the world and stuff? What's like to be an X-Man?' I didn't expect a serious answer, Scott may have the sense of humour of a rock, but he can be sarcastic sometimes.

'Its like having a headache that never goes away, with fireballs inside your eyes, just trying to burn their way out every time you open them. It stops when I close them, but the headaches still there, in fact its always there, kinda why I don't care for fun all that much. Saving the world is like you just won an award, but instead of getting cheers for it, or a congratulations, people just ignore you on the street, and if they acknowledge you, its to try to take your glasses off to see what happens.' It was serious, but kinda truthful for an answer, 'Being an X-Man is like being in the army. You work to protect people, but you know no one cares what you do. You have to do a lot of work, wear a skin tight Kevlar-spandex-latex kinda material all day, which chafes all the time and causes all sorts of friction burns. But living in a mansion with a pool, a jet, and a big training room that's like the worlds greatest video game is pretty cool.' It took me a second to realize that he wasn't joking, that's quite literally what its like.

'So why?' I had to know, if its so bad, why does he bother?

'Because it makes a difference. Sure, no one cares when you save the world, but for the love of god, You just saved the world! You don't NEED people to care about that, you know you did it. I get up in the morning, through pain, through torture, through bad experiences and memories, through the knowledge that whatever I do, the world will still hate and fear me, because I know that what I do is really important, what I do is the realist thing you'd ever do in your life.'

"It doesn't matter to him what people think, he's just a soldier, to him, that's what counts.

"When he finished his Sunday, he turned to me and said: 'You want to know what's like for me? Here.' He pulled out a small USB stick, I didn't know what it was at first, but when I plugged it in to a computer when I got home, I found only a few folders, each with twelve or less files named after a month with the folders marked by year, it was a digital journal, detailing pretty much Scott's entire life. There was things I knew, like his parents being dead, his brother living in Hawaii, the fact he was totally checking Jean out that time he claimed he was just looking into space, but there was stuff on it I never knew. I had no idea about a kid named Barry Bohusk once went to their school and had quite literally as his only power a beak, bird like talons, and a couple of feathers. I had no idea why John Proudstar left, do now. No idea that Mr McCoy taught at their school for a few weeks and left before he came to Bayville high, or that when he left he became a teacher at their school full time. No idea beforehand why for an institute for mutants did they only get like, 30 kids after two and a half years, apparently mutants aren't as common as the media wants us to think. And I had no idea that Scott had made contact with his grandparents recently, who hooked him and his brother up with the trust funds their parents set up, or that he's now got a small fortune, all of which he's put into repairs for the X-Men's vehicles, as well as buy a ton of sport cars and suit them up with the latest upgrades to make them literally the kind of cars Batman or James Bond would use. But when I read the last entry, one thought wouldn't leave me alone: I wanted to do just as much good as he did.

"The first thing I did was I went to the mansion and called for him, asked if I could re-write the and journal and publish it, it was the only thing I knew I could do to make even a small difference was let people read what its like to be him. He told me it was fine, so long as I give him both credit and royalties. So I did, I rewrote it, sent it to get published, and was surprised that a small publishing company actually wanted to publish it. What surprised me more, was when it got to best sellers and an Opera sticker, and when I found that in Kentucky it was a huge hit, The movie's coming out next year, so I need to send him tickets, which is amazing considering its been out for like, two or three months now. But that was just one bit of what I could do. I could do more. I'm not sick, I'm in my prime, I could do just as much good as he could if I wanted to.

"Now, I can't become an X-Man, so I did some research. When I read something about a group called SHIELD, I did some background work and found out who you guys are: Your like the CIA had a child with the marine corps, your like a step bellow superheroes. So that's why. That's why I want to be an agent of SHIELD."

"Huh, fun story. Now, one more question: Have you ever used a gun before?"

...

Yeah, my first ever oneshot for the X-Men archive, again, no reason for this being one other than I didn't have any use for it in my story. So, review, whatever. Flame if you must, it just makes me laugh.

And, now that you read this, if you haven't in the past, read my main story. Its an ongoing series, so its really long and probably wont end for a long time, so read that, unless you have. I'll make reference to Paul's book and his new place In SHIELD in the story, and maybe have him become a minor reoccurring character as part of SHIELD.


End file.
